Say What You Need to Say

Once again inspired by Sally Church, I decided to look at the Comprendia Tweet Cloud. What is that, you ask? It is similar to a tag cloud, a visual representation of words used to ‘tag’ or describe a set of entries. For example, if you save bookmarks application Delicious, you tag each with a set of words (you could use ‘social media, biotech, twitter’ for this link), and a tag cloud is representative of all of your bookmarks.

A Tweet Cloud looks at all of a user’s updates on Twitter and depicts the words used most frequently, the largest being shown in the largest font. Since a picture is worth a thousand words (pun intended) look at the image to the right (your eyes are probably already there, aren’t they?).

You can see what topics dominate my tweets, giving you a snapshot of my theme or ‘voice’ on Twitter. Why is this important? If you’re using social media for business, you need to have a clear objective and ensure that your tactics align. It’s OK to add some ‘personality’ to your accounts, and talk about other things from time to time, as this helps to engage your community (and is much more fun ;). You should use these types of analysis tools on your accounts from time to time to make sure you’re saying what you need to say.

Staying true to your objectives and brand are one part of what we call a Social Media Charter™ (SMC), a plan which can integrate nicely with your current marketing plans. Like a marketing plan, an SMC uses information gained from your customers, products, and competition to outline strategies and tactics to meet your objectives. A living document, the SMC provides guidance to all who participate in your social media activities, which is needed so that your tactics can be aligned and readjusted as necessary.

Learn more on our Social Media Capabilities page and check out our blog to learn more–you can see from our Tweet Cloud that we talk about these topics quite a bit.